Sky Fire
by MysteryReview
Summary: Coraline Jones didn't think that anything could possibly scare her after her terrifying encounter with the Beldam. However, she soon learns that not only was she scared, but of two horrifying remembrances in particular. Coraline x Wybie. Movie Based
1. Brewing Emotions

Welcome to my first Coraline Fanfic. I have been in dire need of writing one since I watched the movie. Don't get confused by the POV's in the story. It starts out with a slight introduction by Wybie, followed by the actual story he's telling. The story is in the third person. Every other chapter Wybie may feel the need to tell you something important, but he won't appear in the middle of a chapter. Anywho! I hope you enjoy the story! If you fear Coraline x Wybie fluff, turn away now.

I, regrettably, do not own Coraline.

**Sky Fire**

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Hey, I'm Wybie Lovat. Well, _Wybourn_, Lovat, but I try not to say my full name, especially in front of Jonsey. It reminds her of the similarities between my name and her latest phrase for me, "Why-were-you-born." It's hurtful, you know, but for some reason, I can't entirely bring myself to be mad at her when she says things like that. I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe it's because I like hearing her laugh so much when she sees me get slightly irked. Or maybe it's because somehow I know she never really means it. Anyway, I've been through so much lately that my head feels like it's been on this constant overload that empties of one tiresome vexation, only for another to immediately cram into place. It feels like someone is unceasingly poking at the crook of my neck with the utmost of pressure. It makes my neck twinge just thinking about it.

Many people think I'm strange. That's a fact. Even Jonsey does, but she thinks I'm weird in, well, a weird way. She likes it, or maybe she just tolerates it. In any case, I think that it's currently one of the things that are causing these headaches; The fact that I can't tell whether Coraline thinks of me as a friend or an amusement is constantly nagging at me, and I don't want to ask her in fear of her thinking that I doubt her friendship. Yes, I know I helped to save her from the thin metal claws of death that detached from the Other Mother herself as it tried to drag us down a well and rip the very flesh off our bodies, but you can't count that as an instant friendship. How would you know? It never happened to you!

That's not the only thing bothering me, though. Coraline wouldn't believe it, but I can be a very deep person. Sometimes I wonder what the answer to a previously asked question would be after the asker fore mentioned were caught in a life-threatening situation. Such a single situation could leave the respondent in a state where rushed decisions lead to honest responses, instead of ones hidden by bitterness and stubbornness. I feel a little guilty using this knowledge to my advantage though. Hey, I'm not just going around putting myself in danger just to know if the kid I was talking to at lunch was lying when I asked if they had a dollar I could borrow! I'm talkin' about the basic principle! Uh… I guess I'll just have to explain what I mean from a different approach. Maybe you should just observe a normal day in the life of a boy from Ashland, Oregon.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

The blue-haired girl stared, eyes narrowed in annoyance and silent frustration as the bumbling brunet stared down from the front of the motor bike, knowing that this time, he had truly screwed up. She began to tap her fingers in line against the hard seat of the bike, and he could feel her gaze boring through the back of his head. Wybie cringed noticeably and peeked over his shoulder, daring to look into the eyes of the girl sitting snugly behind him.

"Um…" he lamely began, "…i-it looks like the, um, bike is, ah…" She raised an eyebrow, eyes unmoving. He swallowed audibly. "… Dead." He finished.

"UH!" Coraline caved into her fermenting displeasure and jabbed her fist into his side, letting it linger, not pulling it away. Wybie yelped in pain. "You _said _that the bike was one hundred percent FIXED! You told me as you were bragging this morning, 'Not-to-worry!'" She said mockingly, pushing harder into his ribs with every word.

When she unexpectedly swung her fist away from his body, he flailed to dodge the other fist that he had prepared for, only to fall backward onto the hard pebble-scattered ground. Wybie looked up at Coraline, hesitantly pulling himself up. She had already gotten off the bike and was pacing on the other side of the narrow dirt road.

"Uh, my mom is gunna kill me," She mumbled to herself. "She didn't even want me going on the bike. When she finds out that I went on it anyway and on top of that missed school…! GAH!"

Wybie stretched out his back and watched the girl mutter and grumble. It was obvious that she was an only child. She always so openly spoke to herself. It was actually quite amusing. It was then that she had apparently ceased rambling, and had now focused her attention on him. Uh oh…

"WYBOURN LOVAT!" She ran toward the petrified boy whose eyes had suddenly become wide with fear within a split second of hearing his full name. He screamed as she proceeded to bound toward him, hands in a strangling position aiming for his neck, and he immediately turned on his heels and scampered off clumsily in the opposite direction.

"AAAH…!" He darted around clownishly flailing his arms searching for something, anything to help him hide or lose her. A tall tree, a large boulder, a deep well with a broken homicidal hand and a key… anything would be better than to face her wrath! Finally he found that he had been running much longer than he thought, and that he was a great deal down the dirt road from the bike and Coraline. Slowing down his pace, Wybie began taking great breaths as he slowed to a halt. He bent his knees in exhaustion and closed his eyes. What had he done this time? The defeated boy looked back over his shoulder and could faintly make out the form of his disappointed friend sitting on the ground with her back against the side of his broken down bike. He decided that going back over to the bike was probably not the best idea as of yet.

There wasn't a chance of going to school or back home right now. The school was too far away, and the buses never had to take a route to the Pink Palace before Coraline came. Wybie was home schooled, partially because he had to take care of his gramma, and mostly because he never quite fit in with the kids there. More importantly, no family with kids had ever been allowed to rent out the Pink Palace. When Coraline came, Wybie thought that there just might be a chance of him feeling more comfortable and fitting in at school. So much for that social experiment.

Wybie sighed and looked around until he saw a large stump by the side of the route and went over to rest on it. This could take a while.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Coraline had given up on catching the green-eyed, graceless boy after she had realized that overall it would be pointless to threaten or hurt him, especially when they were stranded in the middle of scenic nowhere. She looked above her head. It was already becoming a thicker shade of grey, wind slowly dragging the masses of clouds across the vast sky. The cloud directly above her roared in its throat, and she lowered her head, exasperated. What else did life need to throw at her today? She already had her fill of broken bikes, useless boys, and still had to deal with the conniption that her parents would have when she got home. _If _she got home, she added.

The sky bellowed, and the ground trembled slightly at the sound. The girl flinched and held her legs closer to her chest. Coraline Jones wasn't scared of many things, and after facing a demented, terrifying, form-changing being like the Beldam, she thought that nothing else possibly could. However, one fear still stuck; her fear of lightening. Rain? Rain was fine. Rain brought mud, drinking water and life to a wilting garden of red tulips. Lightening was random and unpredictable. It struck and lit trees and homes afire without remorse. With every sound of the migrating lightening she felt every bit more uneasy.

Suddenly she remembered something. "Where did that boy run off to?" The girl squinted through the building wind whipping at her blue locks. The scattered trees at the edge of the road did absolutely no favors in protection from the brewing weather. How could he leave her alone in these conditions stuck with _his_ broken bike? Oh yeah, she chased him off trying to strangle him about an hour ago. Well, he deserved it… didn't he? He's an annoying, blundering jerkwad… isn't he? Guilt suddenly crept up on her unexpectedly, and she hung her head. She couldn't deny her mistake. He didn't deserve it, and she knew that. No matter what he did, he was always kind, and had the best intentions. Now all because she couldn't control her temper, they were both alone in this terrible weather

An ear-shattering crash shook the ground violently and lit up the sky no more than ten miles from where Coraline sat. She jumped out of her skin, eyes wide in terror, and pulled herself closer to the motorbike behind her. The frightened girl clutched part of the cold, metal body of the bike between her palms and locked her eyes shut. Thin trickles of water were beginning to spill from the sky. The wind picked up from multiple directions. Another loud crash boomed and her hairs were sticking on end. Suddenly, something heavy fell atop her back. It must have been a coat that had been ripped away from its owner in the harsh wind. Either way, she welcomed the extra protection from the elements. It was a long, black coat, and looked like it had been worn and dirtied from being thrown around in the rain, and it was also… warm? Oh no.

Coraline gripped the coat tightly between her fingers, recognizing the texture of the thick clothing. Panic rushed her to her feet. The girl's eyes darted around, coat wrapped firmly around her form, and the thunder that exploded directly behind her went almost completely unnoticed. Through a voice broken from the ripping wind, she desperately called out through the storm,

_**"Wybie!" **_

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

**End of ****Chapter 1 **

Oh no! Cliffhanger! Sorry about that. I have a lot in store for this story. I'm not quite sure exactly how long it will be yet, but in any case please let me know what you think so far.

~AltheanFlame


	2. Lingering Hope

Thank you so much for the reviews! A bunch of positive reviews really drive you to update! I'm sorry for not replying to your comments, but I thought you would appreciate me working on an update even more. xP Hope you enjoy this chapter too.

I, regrettably, do not own Coraline.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Stray hair from Coraline's locks whipped and lashed at her face, blinding her and weakening her will. She continued slowly, making her way through the curtains of water. Wybie's bike, firmly in her grip, was being dragged behind her as a means of counteracting the weight of water and buffeting wind. Something was wrong, indeed, but obviously something was unearthly wrong. The weather had only been predicted to be cloudy in the afternoon. Wouldn't the report have been able to recognize _this_ on its radar? And where was _anybody?_ Lo and behold, a nearby resident of the Pink Palace had driven by, but the driver held a curiously unfitting expression. It seemed as if the woman, (At least, Coraline thought the driver was a woman when she squinted through the storm,) was smiling and driving along in no particular hurry. She didn't even appear to notice the dramatic display of Mother Nature just outside her car window. Coraline noticed that even through the torrential rain, the car's windshield wipers remained rock-still.

She tried desperately to call out to the passer by, waving her arms and attempting to run a bit behind the car as it passed, but the woman either paid no attention or failed to notice. Coraline stood for a brief moment bewildered, but quickly regained her train of thought.

" I need to keep looking for Wybie," she told herself bravely. "Even if someone did offer to help me, I can't go knowing he's out in these dangerous conditions."

Continuing down the road, the blue-haired girl realized something crucial; If Wybie isn't okay, if he's hurt, suffering or possibly worse, what was Coraline to do? After laboriously enduring the elements for so long, she would surely be too exhausted to be of any aid. Her heart sank momentarily, but she continued into the shredded grey in front of her. Every other step seemed as if a hunk of the road clung to her feet, weighing her down and pulling her back.

Coraline lost track of how far she had managed to drag herself. Her eyes had been closed for quite some time as she progressed, feeling only the large, wet droplets stinging her eyelids, and being instantly dried by the thrashing air, only for them to be stung immediately after. Finally submitting to her fatigue, the girl had to kneel on the ground, palms pressed firmly to the damp softening ground. Raising her hands up slightly, she felt the depressions left by debris. Water ran down her strands and face. She blinked stray droplets out of her eyes and looked to her side.

She ran on bent determination. Gripping the grass at the edge of the road, Coraline found the strength to pull her over to the haven in the distance. Finally, she felt the transition from the wet, numbing grass tangled between her fingers to the cold, but dry earth beneath her. Coraline's vision went from a moisture-intensified blur to black with only the hindrance of discomfort as she fell forward to the ground.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

_Don't worry Jonsey, I'll protect you…_

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

With a start, Coraline's body resembled a rebooting automation.

"Uh," she groaned, "I'm so hungry. I think I'll get mom to…"

But instead of being greeted by her usual abode, complete with creaky floorboards and peeled paint among other things, she met a dark nook entrenched deep beneath a large boulder lit only by the wrathful storm. She rubbed the back of her neck in remembrance.

Outside the indented earth, Coraline could make out the form of the road about thirty feet away, and what looked like a few scattered sequoia trees in a guarding stance around a rotting tree stump. Her body ached, and the girl grasped the coat around her figure. It had kept her warm since she collapsed there, and besides the warmth she needed, the coat also seemed to give her this indescribable feeling of complacency. Endless comforts emanated from every seam and pocket in the clothing. Coraline had to keep looking for Wybie. The longer she waited, the weaker she would eventually become.

Her decisive mindset let her eyes wander vacantly, and her gaze scanned her surroundings flowing steadily over every bump and rock. Noticing something odd a bit further down the edge of the thick rock and cliff, the girl warily stepped toward it. What ever it was, it was breathing. Was it what she thought it was? Inching nearer, the thing moved slightly upon the crumble of pebbles beneath her feet. Coraline flinched, a sense of uneasiness tensing her body. Once again, her hair stood on end. What ever it was that was laid on the ground, it stirred and moved to look directly at her.

"…W-Wybie?" She hedged, and noticed the boy's shirt on the ground. "Are you… okay?"

It got up upon its legs… its _four _legs. Coraline's breath abandoned her. Two yellow eyes glowing from the light that crept through the area locked with her own. Alarm set her defenses on high, but terror numbed any response. Mountain lions. Brown fur and piercing eyes. Her mother had mentioned them at one point when they moved to the Pink Palace, but it wasn't a warning expectant of the actual consequence to occur. However here she stood, paralyzed by fear, and the danger itself in a stance with bared teeth.

_"Oh God," _She began to echo over and over in her head, _"Wybie. Mom. Dad. Oh God. What now? Where do I go? I can't get away. What do I do? Help. Find help! I can't find help. I can't get away. What do I do...?!"_

As if feeling the build in her emotions, the powerful cat crept nearer in a striking pose. Just before all time stood still in her final moments, Coraline noticed the slashed, blood-stained cloth that the beast had been lying on in further detail, and a strangled tear fell from her glassy eyes. In a heap, her own realization struck her down. On her knees, she cut loose restraint on everything; Emotion filled Coraline like quicksand swallowing her from the inside out. She needed to scream out for help to escape the torturous feeling eating away at her. She needed him. He meant so much to her… He couldn't be dead!

"**WYBIE!**" The sudden outburst only provoked the lion. A clap of thunder pierced the locality, and to her horror the predator sprung.

"No!" She heard a call. She blocked her eyes, but was shoved unexpectedly by another body, forcing her to open them once more. A shadow was her haven. A bright light shone from the other side of the body. In frightened anticipation, the girl boldly opened her eyes. Standing before her she could slightly make out the body to be quite familiar, but the light in front of her was so blindingly bright that the only clear sight, curly tufts of hair and a slightly off kilter posture, made her smile and her heart burn even brighter.

Coraline stood shakily to her feet. Reaching out her hand, she slowly touched the boy's shoulder. Wybie squinted back at her a moment before offering a comforting, reassuring smile. Suddenly, the blinding light dimmed to a faint white glow. The two adjusted and rubbed their eyes a moment. That's when her jaw dropped in awe. There was the mountain lion frozen in mid air ready to kill, however it looked as if the creature had been turned to solid stone. The light emitting from it's body lightly pulsated, and the two crept closer to it cautiously. The light ceased all together, and the pre-teens jumped back.

The stone cat began to break into fragments of floating pixilation. Pieces peeled and floated away until they disappeared entirely into thin air. A couple floated right through their bodies, sending an awkward tingling sensation to pass wherever they touched. Eventually, the thousands of tiny pieces disappeared entirely, and the beast ceased to exist.

Wybie lowered his arms from their protective pose and they both panted from apprehension, his face particularly devoid of expression. The girl behind him noticed right away and shot him a look of confusion and inquiry mixed with sudden conscious relief. The only sound that could be heard was the steady pounding of rain on the outside ground and muffling patter on the boulder atop their heads.

"Wybie…" She walked closer to hug him before catching herself and nudging him half-heartedly with a loose fist. "I'm glad you're okay." She leaned her shoulder against his. The girl crossed her arms and averted her gaze for a moment. Then, she realized that something very grave had just happened, and somehow, an all too familiar feeling of threat sent chills coursing through her. She hadn't felt this kind of foreboding since…

After a moment, he spoke. "… Jonsey?" She looked up and raised her brow, noting his serious change of mood. "We have a major problem."

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

**End of****Chapter 2 **

Oh yes, there is much more to this than meets the eye. What's going on? Why does Wybie seem to know? So much suspense! I promise that there will be more dialogue in the next chapter. I just love my suspense! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm already working on the next. Until next time…

~AltheanFlame


End file.
